COLUMBUS, Ohio — Editor's note: the video in the player above is from a story published on January 6, 2021.
During his Tuesday afternoon press conference, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine doubled down on his goal to get Ohio students back in the classroom by March.
Gov. DeWine has been open about his push to get kids back in classrooms, explaining over the past year that he believes students suffer from not learning in-person.
Today, DeWine announced that not only have a majority of public schools in the state agreed to return to in-person schooling- even partially- by March 1, but the state has also set up a center to vaccinate school personnel.
"We are working directly with schools to determine what the vaccination of school personnel looks like locally. As of today, 96% of public school districts have committed to returning to school at least partially in-person by March 1st," the governor tweeted on Tuesday.
"For those districts and other schools that have made this commitment, the State has designated a local Educational Service Center as a working partner," Governor DeWine tweeted. "These Educational Service Centers are communicating this week with each school district to confirm final plans."
The Ohio Governor also elaborated more on his plan to begin immunizing school personnel on February 1, a process he detailed weeks ago.
"School districts are choosing either a retail pharmacy partner, secured by the state, or an existing local partnership to administer the vaccines," the governor continued. "Administration of vaccines will happen through the school-provider partnership and begin the week of February 1st for the first dose and continue over the month. We will share more details next week."
Governor DeWine sat down with 3News' Maureen Kyle earlier this month to talk about the need to get students back in classrooms, and how he plans to do it by March. You can find that full interview here.
You can watch the full press briefing with Gov. DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health in the player below: